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Contents 1 Intro 2 Michael Angelo Batio Ritz guitars 3 Other Ritz players 4 The End 5 Ritz Guitar Links

Ritz Guitar Co. produced guitars between 1988 and 1989 in California and were famous for their amazing cracked shell mosaic finishes on their 'Neptune' series, each little piece of shell was hand-cracked and stuck on the guitar body by hand. Produced by Wayne Charvel with the assistance of Eric Galletta, they made around 150 guitars with only about 25 being the cracked shell 'Neptunes' . The other models were the 'Exotic' which used rare woods (eg Cocobolo) and kept them as a natural finish and the 'Classic' series which had a basic painted finish or a Zolatone finish. All body shapes were Strat style, however, there is a rumor that a V shaped Ritz Neptune exists. The examples of shell types available were; Violet Oyster, Brown Lip, Black Lip, Green Shell, Abalone Shell, Nautilius Shell, and Snake Lip. Most Ritz Neptunes had Alder bodies for their light weight and used Seymour Duncan pick ups and all came with the Kahler Tremolo System Spyder model.

Michael Angelo Batio was the most famous user of these guitars. He appeared in The Ritz Guitar Ad with a 'Brown Lip' Ritz Neptune along with his famous Ritz Quad Guitar which had 4 necks and famously was stolen on the first night of his band Nitro's first show in El Paso Texas http://www.angelo.com/html/the_quad_guitar.html A range of Ritz Neptunes can be seen in the Nitro (band) video 'Freight Train' including an Abalone shell finish guitar originaly made for Howard Lesse of the band Heart, . Also in the Nitro video a Brown Lip, Nautilus guitar and Nautilus Bass guitar (as used by bassist TJ Racer) and also a yellow Classic model Ritz. There was also a Ritz 'Rocket' model made for Michael Angelo.

Gerry Finn the guitarist with the band Killer Dwarfs also used a Ritz Neptune in the bands video 'Dirty Weapons' as well as Howard Lesse of Heart. A collector/player in the UK is rumored to have at least 14 of the 25 shell neptunes ever made. There is also a Van Halen Ritz Neptune that Ed Roman has for sale in Las Vegas, however Eddie Van Halen has never owned or played this guitar.

The Ritz Guitar Company went out of business and resurfaced with the cracked shell finish Neptunes and a slight design change under the name WRC Guitars (which also included some telecaster body designs). There are rumors that many Ritz Neptune bodies and necks are stored somewhere in a warehouse without pickups and necks since the company went out of business.

The guitar received a very favorable review in the British publication 'Kerrang' in 1988, but overall there was not much press about them. Carrying a relatively high price tag ($2500 to $5000) virtually none were ever sold as new. A lot of the Ritz Guitars appeared in Scotland and the UK due to a Scottish distributor who decided to distribute most of the Ritz's ever made, which he planned to sell in the UK marketplace. Eventually, the distribution company folded due to lack of sales and most were auctioned off by a bank after being repossessed from the liquidisation, in a Glasgow, Scotland auction with most guitars being sold to buyers who were unaware of what Ritz Guitars were and were bought for next to nothing.

However, 'Galletta Guitars' will still make a shell finish guitar on a custom order today. 

Eric Galletta had a hand in all the original Ritz and WRC Guitars. http://www.gallettaguitars.com/home.html

http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_american_ritz.htm . http://www.metrosound.com/gear-used/usedproduct.asp?id=151&Catname=Ritz . http://www.edromanguitars.com/newsite/guitars/ritz.htm . http://www.wayneguitars.com/history.html . http://www.angelo.com/html/the_quad_guitar.html .